Iolite is usually a purplish / violet blue when cut to enhance its best attributes. The most pleasing colour is a pale violet blue that is unlike other gemstones, sitting somewhere between the colour of Sapphire and Tanzanite.
Pleochroism (the ability of a stone to display more than one colour at a time) is very pronounced in Iolite. With the stone actually being trichroic, that is three different color shades being visible in the stone, depending on its orientation.
While the stone is hard (7-7.5 on the Moh's scale) it does exhibit imperfect cleavage and therefore care should be exercised in the jewellery manufacturing process.
